Primary Connections

Unit map - PrimaryConnections, PC Stages and Australian Curriculum Year levels,
March 2011

Year	Biological sciences	Chemical sciences	Earth and Space Science	Physical sciences
Curriculum focus: Awareness of self and the local world
K	Staying aliveEarly stage 1	What's it made of? Early stage 1	* Weather in my world Early stage 1	* On the moveEarly stage 1
1	Schoolyard safariStage 1	Spot the differenceStage 1	Up, down and all around	* Sounds sensational Stage 1
2	Growing and changing l	All mixed up	Water works Stage 1	* Push-pullStage 1
Curriculum focus: Recognising questions that can be investigated scientifically and investigating them
3	Feathers, fur or	Runny or not	* Spinning in spaceStage 2	Heat
4	* Plants in actionStage 2	* Material world Stage 2 * Package it better Stage 3	Buried in time	Smooth movesStage 2
5	Adaptations	Solids, liquids and gases	Earths place in Space	* Light fantastic Stage 2
6	Marvellous micro-organismsStage 3	Change detectives Stage 3	Earthquake explorers Stage 3	It's electrifying Stage 3 Essential Energy

PrimaryConnections stages 2005 - 2011 Early stage 1: Kinder/Prep - Year 1, Stage 1: Year 2 - 3, Stage 2: Year 4 - 5, Stage 3: Year 6- 7 Note: Shaded boxes indicate published PrimaryConnections units. Units with * will need some modification to align with the Australian Curriculum Science understanding (SU). Unshaded boxes indicate units in trial process. See PrimaryConnections website for more details.

Curriculum resource
The Australian Curriculum: Science was released by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) on December 8 2010.
PrimaryConnections is aligned with the rationale and aims of the Australian Curriculum: Science. It supports its national implementation by providing an innovative, inquiry-based program linking the teaching of science with literacy.
The Australian Curriculum: Science is organised around three interrelated strands:

• Science Understanding (SU)
• Science as a Human Endeavour (SHE)
• Science Inquiry Skills (SIS)

Together, these strands ’provide students with understanding, knowledge and skills through which they can develop a scientific view of the world’. (Australian Curriculum: Science, ACARA, 8 December 2010)
PrimaryConnections resources are modular in format and support science teaching across the primary school. Development of the units is guided by the Primary**Connections** 5Es teaching and learning model and supported by resources for both students and teachers. A unit planner and supporting documentation has been developed to allow teachers the flexibility to develop and customise their own units.
Each unit contains:

• a unit overview;
• unit outcomes;
• lessons with step-by-step instructions, lesson overview, and science and literacy outcomes;
• equipment requirements;
• planning information with links to additional resources;
• embedded and authentic assessment tasks;
• relevant literacy focuses;
• opportunities to extend the students' learning;
• science background information;
• student resource sheets (including stimulus material and questions to scaffold student activities);
• accompanying resources available on the PrimaryConnections website.